An observation about innovation collaborations

To the British layperson, innovation (and certainly invention) is often considered as something created by an erratic loner tinkering with some technology in the garden shed. (In other cultures, it might be a spare room or a garage!) With this assumption comes the impression that innovation happens when you create something from nothing. Starting, as it were, with a blank slate.

This appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding of corporate innovation. Generally, the challenge is not to start with a blank slate, but rather by starting with what you already have (people, capabilities, assets, relationships etc) to create new value and find new competitive advantage through innovation. Soon Yu articulates this well when he says, “Don’t chase the new, innovate the old”.

Solving the strategic innovation challenges required for sustainable growth in these uncertain times really starts with innovating your problem. Early-stage innovation is where the greatest opportunities for creating competitive advantage are, and where the biggest uncertainties are. The process and approach you follow will determine the result, as will the information and people that you feed into the process. If you don’t understand your problem, how can you choose the right process at the beginning and therefore what hope do you have about finding the best solution?

Your challenge is unique: Each industry, company, and innovation challenge is unique. Yes, organisations can learn from other companies, industries and even from nature – but it’s best to view this as a source of inspiration and learning, not the answer. Even close competitors in the same industry have different tangible and intangible assets, cultures etc. Even if you chose to replicate your rival’s success, their existence in the market and their business model, your customer’s familiarity with them will mean your challenge will always be inherently different.

For strategic innovation (as opposed to incremental improvement or product development), those multi-faceted, future facing uncertainties rule. Yet conventionally, the way clients choose innovation and design partners at the start of a collaboration project is often based on their response to a fixed brief or a pitch, usually answered with a nice linear process. This is an attractive proposition; can you outsource your sleepless nights or your future ambition to purchase a finished solution? Given the future uncertainty and inherent uniqueness of any individual strategic innovation challenge, and given that until you’ve engaged in the challenge, you’re unlikely to know what the best approach will be, this may be one reason for the industry’s poor hit rate.

So, if the innovation is to be strategic, YOU must be a part of the process – the risk of missing information, outsiders not understanding what you already have or simply ending up with NIH (not-invented-here) syndrome is too great to leave to chance. The process you follow does matter, but it’s not possible to dictate this in advance. Strategic innovation shouldn’t be outsourced – it’s YOUR business. Instead, collaborate and let the journey you follow reveal the critical uncertainties and the right process.